Friday, September 09, 2005

BAUAW NEWSLETTER-FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2005

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$300 BILLION FOR WAR YET ONLY
$10 BILLION FOR HURRICANE VICTIMS
Not one more casuality in Bush's
war against working people!
If you would like to help get the word
out about Proposition I--and why it's important
that San Francisco vote YES to banning
military recruiters in schools--as well as help
us raise funds, join us at the Power to
the Peaceful festival this Saturday, September
10th. It is ever so important as we try to
rebuild a movement that can demand not
just an end to the war, but also money
or education, jobs, and victims of disasters
that didn't have to be.
MEET US AT OUR TABLE
We'll be near the main entrance (not 25th
and Fulton), on the end opposite of the
main stage, on the side near Fulton. We'll
have big banners that say, "YES ON PROP i"
and a GREEN TENT. We'll be set up from
10am to 5pm. See you there!
Brian Cruz
Treasurer, Committee for Proposition I,
"College Not Combat"

SEPTEMBER 24
ANSWER Organizing Meetings:
Tuesdays, 7:00 p.m.
2489 Mission St., suite 24 (at 21st St., S.F.)

COLLEGE NOT COMBAT Planning Meeting:
Saturday, September 17th, 2:00 P.M.
110 Capp Street (Buzz #202) San Francisco
For more information:
college_not_combat@yahoo.com
(415) 248-1701
http://www.collegenotcombat.org/

NEXT BAUAW MEETING:
TUESDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 20, 7:00 P.M.
474 VALENCIA STREET, S.F. NEAR 16TH STREET

Letter from Cindy Sheehan
March on Washington, Sept. 24, 2005
www.unitedforpeace.org/septmobe

STOP THE WAR AND OCCUPATION!
IRAQ, PALESTINE, HAITI....
MARCH AND RALLY SEPTEMBER 24
11:00 A.M. DOLORES PARK, S.F.
COLLEGE NOT COMBAT CONTINGENT
10:00 A.M. 16TH AND MISSION BART PLAZA, S.F.

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BAUAW NEWSLETTER-WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2005
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1) Memorandum of Understanding between United for Peace and
Justice and the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition

Many of the member groups of United for Peace and Justice
have asked about the content of the agreement we reached
with the ANSWER Coalition about the joint rally and march
on Sept. 24th. Because there is a lot of interest in this
issue we are sending you, the groups that are part of UFPJ,
a copy of the Memorandum of Understanding between the two
coalitions. Please feel free to contact us if you have any
additional questions of concerns.

And, most importantly, let's all use these next two weeks to
make sure everyone knows about the mobilization in Washington,
DC. Many people don't decide about going to a demonstration
like this until the last minute. Now is the time to sell bus
tickets, organize van and car caravans, get people onto trains
and planes. Now is the time to let people know their voice
needs to be heard!

peace,

Leslie Cagan
National Coordinator
UFPJ

Memorandum of Understanding between United for Peace
and Justice and the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition

Scope of agreement
The below constitutes an agreement between United for
Peace and Justice and the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition on behalf
of the September 24 National Coalition. This document covers
agreements for a joint pre-march rally and a joint march on
September 24, 2005, between United for Peace and Justice and
the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition. It does not apply to activities
either party is organizing or involved in separately from
these two activities on the day of September 24 or any
other day.

Announcement of agreement
No agreement exists, nor will any announcement of an agreement
between the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition (Act Now to Stop War &
End Racism) and United for Peace and Justice for a joint
rally and march on September 24 be made until the details
below have been agreed to and this document is signed by
authorized representatives of each coalition.

Joint rally and march
United for Peace and Justice and the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
have agreed to hold a joint pre-march rally and a joint march
in Washington DC on Saturday, September 24. The rally will be
held on the Ellipse and will begin at 11:30 am. The march
will leave from that location at 12:30 pm on a route agreed
upon by the coordinating team (see below) and will end at
15th Street and Constitution Ave. The rally will end at 1 pm.

Each party will have one banner of equal size on the stage
during the portions of the rally they control. The language
on the banners will be determined by the two parties
independently.

Each coalition will decide what signage they would like on the
podium during the portion of the rally they control. The
language on the signage will be determined independently by
the two parties.

Dividing the time of the rally
The 90 minutes of the pre-march rally will be evenly divided,
with each coalition having complete and sole control of
45 minutes, which is one-half of the time. The coordinating
team will decide if one coalition has its 45 minutes and
then the other coalition takes the stage, or if the time
is broken into smaller units. If the coordinating team is
unable to agree who begins and ends, a coin flip will be
used to determine this.

Lead banner and lead contingent
The front of the march will be configured with one handheld
20-30 foot banner. There will be 20 people literally holding
the banner: 10 selected by UFPJ and 10 selected by
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition / September 24 National Coalition.
The names of the people on the lead banner will be given
to the media. The people holding the banner will hold only
this banner. As part of the front of the march and directly
behind the lead banner there will be 500 people, half of them
selected by the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition / September 24 National
Coalition and half selected by UFPJ. Both coalitions will
be free to carry the slogans chosen by their coalition on
placards (it is understood that the size of placards is
no larger than 3 feet by 3.5 feet).

Slogans for the demonstration
Each coalition will carry banners, signs and flags with their
own slogans. Each coalition will have their own stage banner
at the joint rally and there will be one unsigned banner
slogan on the handheld banner in the front of the march.
This lead banner will say: Stop the War on Iraq, Bring the
Troops Home Now. The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition/Sept. 24th National
Coalition stage banner and signs in the lead contingent will
address the war in Iraq and issues connected to that war
including the colonial occupation of Palestine and the
Right of Return, the occupation of Haiti and other anti-
imperialist positions. The United for Peace and Justice
stage banner and signs in the lead contingent will address
the war in Iraq and issues connected to that war.

Each coalition agrees that we will only refer to our own
slogans and banners, and if there is any public referencing
of any slogans used by the coalitions in the joint pre-march
rally or the joint march, the slogans of both coalitions
in both the rally and march will be explicitly stated.

Security
There will be a shared security team, led by two security
coordinators from UFPJ and two from the
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition. The security coordinators shall
develop a plan for security at the pre-march rally and
march on September 24. For the security plan to be implemented,
the security coordinators will have to agree. The areas they
will develop a plan for will include:
-Security when lining up the lead banner and first contingent
-Security at the head of the march and throughout the whole march
-Security at the stage for the pre-march joint rally
-Security at any other sensitive location, such as money
collection points
-How security people will be identified
-The training of the people working on security
-How the security teams will be organized and the chain of
command
-The communication system the security operation will use

No member of the security team will carry signs, banners,
flags or other materials not directly related to carrying
out their security duties.

Media
There will be one joint press conference announcing the
pre-march rally and march as soon as possible, preferably the
last week in August. The next press conference that either
coalition participates in announcing activities for the
weekend of September 24 will be the joint press conference.
Each coalition will determine who will represent them at
the press conference, and there will be an equal number
of people from each coalition.

Each coalition will be able to do its own press work, and
in such press work both coalitions will clearly state that
the rally and march are being jointly organized by
A.N.S.W.E.R. / September 24 National Coalition and
United for Peace and Justice.

The details of the joint press conference, as well as
issues related to press work on and before September 24,
will be worked out by the media coordinators for both
coalitions.

If other joint press activities are organized, the same
principles will apply.

Finances
The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition will pay for the stage, sound,
press riser and backstage set up for the pre-march joint
rally at the Ellipse.

The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition and UFPJ will divide evenly the
costs related to the security operation (walkie talkies
or other communication system, security vests, etc.) and
any costs related to the money collection (buckets,
barrels, etc.) and the cost of the lead banner. They
will also divide evenly any costs related to the joint
press conference.
There shall be a money pitch and collection at the rally
and at least one collection along the march route.
The money collection coordinators for each coalition
shall jointly develop the plans for these operations,
as well as the plans for the counting and dividing of
the money after the march. Any plan will have to be
agreed upon by both coordinators. The money collected
at the rally and at the march will be evenly divided
between United for Peace and Justice and
the A.N.S.WE.R. Coalition.

Coordinating team and dispute resolution
The whole effort will be coordinated by a team of three
people from each of the two coalitions. These people
shall have the authorization from their respective
coalitions to carry out the items agreed upon above.
Should new issues arise, these people will have the
right to go back to their respective coalitions before
final decisions are made. If the coordinating team is
unable to resolve the dispute, the matter will be
referred back to the same facilitation mechanism that
was used in the weeks prior to the signing of the
agreement to hold a joint rally and joint march on
September 24, including the participation of Jos Williams
and Nancy Wohlforth. If, in that process, the dispute
is unresolved and is considered by either side to be
an unremedied violation of the agreement then this
agreement will no longer be binding on either coalition.

No attacks on each other
Between now and the end of the demonstration on
September 24, each coalition agrees to not attack
the other coalition.

Public announcement about the joint rally and joint march
The following language will be the announced statement
from the two coalitions. This statement will be sent out
simultaneously.

Statement about a joint rally and joint march for
September 24:

The two major antiwar coalitions that have initiated and
organized for a massive anti-war March on Washington for
September 24 have agreed to organize a joint rally followed
by a joint march. Both coalitions will organize under
their own banners, slogans and with their own literature
for the September 24 demonstration. The joint rally will
begin at 11:30 am at the Ellipse in the front of the White
House. We urge everyone around the country to unite and
come out for the largest possible anti-war demonstration
on September 24.

Signed by: United for Peace and Justice, and
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition (on behalf of the September
24 National Coalition)

Signed by
Brian Becker for
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
(on behalf of the September 24 National Coalition)

Leslie Cagan for
United for Peace and Justice
UFPJ mailing list

Post: UFPJ@lists.mayfirst.org
List info: https://lists.mayfirst.org/mailman/listinfo/ufpj

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2) IMPORTANT MEETING FOR THE ARAB COMMUNITY IN THE BAY AREA
Monday September 12th, 7:00 PM
522 Valencia, San Francisco, 3rd Floor
Bayareapalestine

The coalition to organize the September 24th Protest against
the US occupation of Iraq, dispossession of the Palestinian
people and the persecution of Arabs in the US is holding an
urgent and important meeting for the Arab Community in San
Francisco. We urge our community organizations to attend
in maximum capacity and our members and friends to attend
in full force.

We will be discussing the following:


* Political fallout of the Katrina Hurricane and impact
on the war and its recent developments;
* Reviving conventional racist campaigns in the US
South and the abandonment of whole sectors of society;
* Israeli withdrawal and the decolonization of Gaza;
* Our contingent to the September 24th protest and
political discourse surrounding the recent events and
future developments.

These events and our actions are not only affecting
global events, but they will have direct and critical
impacts on students, immigrants, our community in US
society and Arab labor in the bay area and elsewhere.

Families are welcome.

* Visit your group "bayareapalestine" on the web.

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3) Not in Our Name ,CodePink , and US Tour of Duty present
Report back from Camp Casey, Crawford, Texas
In the wake of the Katrina disaster, many are asking,
"why are tens of thousands of National Guard troops in Iraq?"
Out of Iraq now!

Photos from Camp Casey

Susan and Melanie House, widow and mother of John House,
a Navy corpsman killed in Iraq. Cindy Sheehan. Marine LCpl
Jeff Key. Joan Baez.


Cindy Sheehan greets Rubin Flores whose son was killed in
Iraq only a couple of months ago. His two daughters are
in the background.

Actor Martin Sheen and Cindy Sheehan with Iraq Veterans
Against the War

Karen Meredith, Gold Star Families for Peace

Photos by Not in Our Name organizer Jeff Paterson.
His two-week Camp Casey photo journal is available
online here .

Monday, September 12
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Grand Lake Theater, Oakland
3200 Grand Avenue ( map )
Zero to $10 donation requested

Thousands came to Crawford, Texas in August to support
Cindy Sheehan's challenge to President Bush to explain
his administration's war in Iraq. A simple request from
a bereaved mother inspired and galvanized the peace
movement. Come find out what Camp Casey was like on
the ground from people who were there, hear first-hand
accounts of the war being fought in our name, and learn
why the movement launched in Crawford by military families,
vets, and activists is turning the tide.

A benefit for the Veterans for Peace "Camp Casey" in
Covington, Louisiana currently providing relief, including
food, shelter, and a communications center, to hundreds
displaced by the Katrina disaster in coordination with
the local Red Cross ( more info ).

Event hosted by AIMEE ALLISON , Army conscientious
objector and Green Party candidate for Oakland City Council

Featuring special guests direct from Camp Casey:
KAREN MEREDITH , member of Gold Star Families for Peace –
her son Kenneth Ballard was killed last year in Iraq
JEFF PATERSON , former Marine, official Camp Casey
blogger/photographer, Not in Our Name organizer
NANCY MANCIAS , CodePink Women's March to Bush Ranch
organizer
SEAN O'NEILL , Purple Heart Iraq War veteran, member
of Iraq Veterans Against the War
RAY McGOVERN , former CIA analyst, featured in
"Uncovered: The War on Iraq"
JESSE DYEN , singer-songwriter, Camp Casey volunteer

Plus a 16-minute film by MARK MANNING ,"CAUGHT IN
THE CROSSFIRE"
Featuring exclusive footage of the U.S. bombardment
of Falluja and its aftermath

For more information call 510.452.3556
Special thanks to Allen Michaan and the Grand Lake Theater .

The Not in Our Name Project needs your support!

Donate online
donate.notinourname.net

Or send your tax-deductible contribution today to:

Not in Our Name
3945 Opal Street, Oakland CA 94609
www.notinourname.net

phone: 510-601-8000
email: bayarea@notinourname.net
local: bayarea.notinourname.net

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4) New Orleans Officials Grapple With How to Pull Out Residents
By ALEX BERENSON and SEWELL CHAN
Published: September 8, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/08/national/nationalspecial/08storm.html

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5) Street Scene
Macabre Reminder: The Corpse on Union Street
By DAN BARRY
Published: September 8, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/08/national/nationalspecial/
08orleans.html?hp&ex=1126238400&en=a7ff2832a9df65b3&ei=5094&partner=hom
epage

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6) UN Hits Back at US in Report Saying Parts of America are
as Poor as Third World
by Paul Vallely
Parts of the United States are as poor as the Third World,
according to a shocking United Nations report on
global inequality.
Published on Thursday, September 8, 2005 by the lndependent/UK
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0908-06.htm

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7) Old-Line Families Escape Worst of Flood And Plot the Future
by Christopher Cooper
Published on Thursday, September 8, 2005
by the Wall Street Journal
The green expanse of Audubon Park, in the city's Uptown area,
has doubled in recent days as a heliport for the city's rich
-- and a terminus for the small armies of private security
guards who have been dispatched to keep the homes there safe
and habitable. Mr. O'Dwyer has cellphone service and ice cubes
to cool off his highballs in the evening. By yesterday, the
city water service even sprang to life, making the daily trips
to his neighbor's pool unnecessary. A pair of oil-company
engineers, dispatched by his son-in-law, delivered four cases
of water, a box of delicacies including herring with mustard
sauce and 15 gallons of generator gasoline.
Despite the disaster that has overwhelmed New Orleans, the
city's monied, mostly white elite is hanging on and maneuvering
to play a role in the recovery when the floodwaters of Katrina
are gone. "New Orleans is ready to be rebuilt. Let's start
right here," says Mr. O'Dwyer, standing in his expansive
kitchen, next to a counter covered with a jumble of weaponry
and electric wires.
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0908-09.htm

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8) "The entire community is now a toxic waste dump"
The Gulf Coast is drowning in a poisonous stew, people are
dying from waterborne bacteria, and federal funds have been
drained by years of pro-industry policies. Katrina is one
of the worst environmental catastrophes in U.S. history.
By Rebecca Clarren
[This article is accompanied by
a photograph showing people
on top of their roof surrounded
by an ocean of water with an "oil"
rainbow floating on top.
"Water, Water everywhere yet not
a drop to drink."...bw]
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/09/09/wasteland/index_np.html

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9) The Fall 2005 Wheels of Justice bus tour needs your
active participation and support
Dear friends and activists:

I urge you to respond to this Wheels of Justice call with
generous donations and support, invitation etc. I do not
exaggerate when I say that this is the most effective
outreach effort I have seen within the United States.
Its impact has been phenomenal. For me personally,
volunteering for it with the hundreds of other people
involved has been the most rewarding and humbling
volunteer effort I ever engaged in.

Mazin Qumsiyeh
http://qumsiyeh.org

The Fall 2005 Wheels of Justice bus tour needs your active
participation and support.

The Wheels of Justice Bus Tour has
already covered 40 states and we spoke
and mobilized at hundreds of events
but we must intensify our efforts at
this crucial stage. The new fall
season begin as we see significant changes
in the political landscape
regarding occupation in Iraq, colonization in
Palestine, and oppression of
civil liberties here at home. The bus team is
growing and adapting to changing
circumstances but with your help will
continue to offer the very best
in compelling witness, testimony and
expertise on our roles and
responsibilities as taxpayers
and world citizens.
New speakers are added and other
speakers traveled recently to update
their knowledge in Iraq and Palestine.
With your much-needed help, we will
continue to speak and mobilize at more
high schools, more colleges, more
churches, and more community centers
and to a wider audience. We lined up
excellent speakers to accompany our
mobile educational center in the form of
the colorful bio-diesel operated bus.

Now what you should do:

- If you live in the areas along the
route (see below) or know people there
consider hosting the Wheels Tour and
participating fully. Contact Ceylon
Mooney: 917-567-5048, ceylon@vitw.org.

- Spread the word. Call and email
people you know along the present rout or
people you think might be interested
in being added o the route. Also hold
fundraising events and raise needed funds.

- DONATE. Everyone is a volunteer
but it takes money to operate this
educational platform. It takes money
for speaker travel, biodiesel, food,
literature, mailing, and logistics.
To donate send checks to Wheels of
Justice, 740 Roundlake Rd., Luck, WI 54853.
On line donations via paypal
can be made at
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr

The Fall '05 Wheels of Justice tour
is shaping up great. We will spend Sept
9 - Nov 19 in the Midwest, the plains,
and the Rockies. We start out in
Minnesota Sept 9 - 16, then head towards
the Sioux Falls area and a bit of
Wyoming for a few days before spending
the rest of September and early
October in Montana. We are still
looking for venues Oct 9-11 in Pocatello
and Idaho Falls. We then have
engagements in the Salt Lake City area for
three days. We'll enter Colorado from
the west around the 16th of October,
and we hope to visit more of Wyoming
and Nebraska in November. We always
welcome new ideas and invitations
in other areas. Contact us
http://justicewheels.org (there you
will also find schedules, background,
reports on previous engagements,
speaker biographies, endorsements, photos,
etc).

Donations and support to this all-
volunteer project are appreciated.
http://justicewheels.org
Have a look at our educational resources:
http://al-awdacal.org/resources.html

Become one of our Donors!
Go to: http://al-awda.org/donatenow/
Unless indicated otherwise, all
statements posted represent the
views of their authors and not
necessarily those of Al-Awda,
The Palestine Right to Return Coalition.
Visit your group "Al-Awda-News
" on the web.

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10) Let the People
Rebuild New Orleans
Naomi Klein
lookout | posted September 8, 2005 (September 26, 2005 issue)
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20050926/klein

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11) The Siege of New Orleans;
a beachhead for the new world order
Mike Whitney
September 6, 2005
"We have been abandoned by our own
country.Bureaucracy has committed murder
here in the greater New Orleans area,
and bureaucracy has to stand trial." Aaron Broussard
"In times of universal deceit, telling
the truth is a revolutionary act". George Orwell
Neither the Mainstream media nor the alternative-Leftist web sites
have told the truth about what really happened in the aftermath of
Hurricane Katrina. For the people of the region it was the greatest
natural catastrophe they'd ever faced. For the Bush administration
it was just another opportunity to use fear and anarchy to advance
their global agenda.
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m15454&l=i&size=1&hd=0

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12) Congressman: Hurricane 'finally
cleaned out public housing in
New Orleans'
RAW STORY
From the paid-restricted Wall Street Journal's Washington
wire: "LOUISIANA LAWMAKERS aim to cope with political fallout."
Sen. Landrieu, in spotlight now, could find margins squeezed
if thousands of Democratic-leaning African-Americans don't
return by her 2008 re-election. Louisiana political analyst John
Maginnis says state could even lose one of seven House seats
in next redistricting.
Two shaky House incumbents, Democrat Melancon and
Republican Boustany, hope response to hurricane rallies
voters behind them. House Republican campaign chief
Reynolds touts chance to market conservative social-policy
solutions; Rep. Baker of Baton Rouge is overheard telling
lobbyists: "We finally cleaned up public housing in New
Orleans. We couldn't do it, but God did."
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/
Congressman_Hurricane_finally_cleaned_out__public_housing_in_N_0909.html

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13) Police Trapped Thousands in New Orleans
Rogers Cadenhead
As the situation grew steadily worse in New Orleans last week,
you might have wondered why people didn't just leave on foot.
The Louisiana Superdome is less than two miles from a bridge
that leads over the Mississippi River out of the city.
The answer: Any crowd that tried to do so was met by
suburban police, some of whom fired guns to disperse
the group and seized their water.
Friday, September 09, 2005
http://www.cadenhead.org/workbench/news/2748

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14) September 24 – National March to
Stop the Iraq War – PeaceNovato will
be marching with the origami peace
cranes in the National March on Saturday,
September 24 in San Francisco.
We need your help! Since July 4th the number
of American Service persons killed in
the Iraq war has grown from 1744 to 1893
(as of 9-7-05). In order to carry all of
the cranes we need more volunteers to
march with us. Please give Don (897-0516)
or Julie (883-8324) a call if you
are interested in joining us.
Also, PeaceNovato is organizing
another Great North Bay Peace Caravan to
San Francisco just prior to the march.
Peace groups from all over the North
Bay area will be converging on the
Rowland Blvd. Park and Ride Lot at
9:00 A.M Saturday the 24th to drive
into San Francisco as a car caravan.
We encourage each car to be decorated
with peace signs and banners and then
we’ll drive as a group into the city.
On our way we will stop in Sausalito
where we will meet up with the last
contingent of caravan autos. We hope
to have over 100 cars in our caravan
crossing the Golden Gate Bridge at one
time as a statement of the North Bay’s
opposition to the war. Again, please
call Don (897-0516) or Julie (883-8324)
if you are interested in joining us
or need a ride.

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